2006年NPR美国国家公共电台六月-Watching the World Cup: What You Need to

Here is a quiz for you. Who won the 2002 World Cup of soccer?

[Time running out. Kim Milton Nielsen looks at the watch, and blows it. Brazil are going to the finals!]

The winner was Brazil. And if you got that right, do you know which team Brazil beat in the semifinal game to make it to the finals? The tape here is from ESPN by the way? Well, never mind, if you know any of these then you probably know more than most Americans do about World Cup soccer. It is the sporting event that every 4 years for 1 month convulses the entire world except for the United States.

Here World Cup soccer is an event with room for, shall we say, some audience growth and since the World Cup begins in Germany on Friday, we thought we could offer a Cliff 1 Notes of short to potential World Cup viewers with the help of the editor of a new book, which is called, the Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup, Matt Weiland, Welcome to the program!

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"Thanks very much, very glad to be here!"

"And first of all, we'd like you to share with us some, some facts about world-class soccer, that most people know, but perhaps most Americans don't, shoot."

"Well, Brazil, of course, is the favorite. They've won five times; they feature the player that everyone agrees is the best player in the world named Ronaldinho. I think he is loved in part because he is an extraordinary player on the ball, but also because he plays with just incredible 2 sense of joy, smiling even when he makes a mistake. Other teams like Germany, Italy, Argentina are also favored, they've, they've won in the past, but there are lesser-known teams like the Dutch and Czechs, who play really exciting football and are fun to watch, and could surprise everyone."

"And you write in the preface 3 to the Thinking Fans' Guide to the World Cup that the style of soccer that it's played really varies 5 according to the country. And indeed, the World Cup is a wonderful occasion 6 to indulge 7 in complete stereotypes of nations through the kind of soccer they play."

"That is right, one of the pleasures of watching the World Cup is that the nations really are different and the fact is all the stereotypes 8 are true. The Germans really are dogged and play boring soccer and the South Americans can be impetuous. So that's one of the best parts of watching international games as teams really are true to their, their national temperament 9."

"You are of the generation for whom soccer growing up with a natural part of life in the United States, a big, big eye opener for you?"

"Absolutely, I grew up in, in Minnesota. And Minnesota can seem very far from the rest of the world, and I think soccer opened my eyes a bit to other countries. There was a team in my hometown--the Minnesota Kicks who were excellent and part of the reason they, they were so good was they had brought in players from, from other parts of the world. There was my real hero, a man named Ace 4 Ntsoelengoe who is a black South African midfielder, who is someone like Ronaldinho now, was just a joy to watch and now I confess 10 I didn't realize as an 8,9-year-old boy why a black South African soccer player would be playing so far from home at that time I didn't know much about apartheid in 1978. But I'd like to think that following him and getting interested in, in soccer around the world. I found out why in time."

"So let's look ahead to the first match of this year's World Cup, Germany-Costa Rica, for somebody who is a complete soccer idiot 11 and stuck in a room with soccer fans. Give us a couple of suggestions that something that a person might say while watching Germany and Costa Rica that might pass for something knowledgeable 12 and smart about the football."

"Well, on the soccer side of things, you can say that Germany as the host is the great favorite. They've won 3 times before, if they win once again, it will put them second only to Brazil. Costa Rica, on the other hand, is far from the favorite, they've, they've only appeared twice in the World Cup before. But by the same token 13, you could contrast them quite apart from soccer, Germany's military record is widely known. What may be less known is that Costa Rica is the only country in the world without a professional army."

"Well, Matt Weiland, thank you very much for talking with us..."

"Thank so much for having me."

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Matt Weiland is the co-editor along with Sean Wilsey of the essay collection "the Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup". It includes statistics 14 about the 32 nations in the Cup and a special feature, a list that reminds us that referees 15 are human ,too. The World Cup, refs include a Mexican economist 16, a tax inspector 17 from Benin, an Egyptian Air Force major, and a concert pianist from Germany.

The first World Cup game kicks off this Friday in Munich!

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quiz:a competition or game in which people have to answer questions;测验, 提问, 恶作剧
semifinal:one of two sports games whose winners then compete against each other to decide who wins the whole competition;半决赛
in part:to some degree, but not completely;部分地
stereotype:a belief or idea of what a particular type of person or thing is like. Stereotypes are often unfair or untrue;铅版, 陈腔滥调, 老套
dogged:dogged behaviour shows that you are very determined to continue doing something; 顽固的, 顽强的
impetuous:tending to do things very quickly, without thinking carefully first, or showing this quality;冲动的, 猛烈的, 激烈的
midfielder:a player in a game of football who usually plays in the midfield;(足球运动中的)中场队员
by the same token:for the same reasons - used when you want to say that something else is also true, especially something very different or surprising; 出于同样原因
kick off:if a meeting, event, or a football game kicks off, it starts ;足球的中线开球,引申为某事件的开始